Media Development Intern

About us

Based in Berkeley, CA, UPSIDE Foods grows meat, poultry, and seafood directly from animal cells.  These products are not vegan or vegetarian—they are delicious meat, made without the need to raise and slaughter billions of animals. UPSIDE Foods recently became the first company in the world to receive the US FDA greenlight for cultivated meat, and UPSIDE’s cultivated chicken will be available to consumers following USDA inspection and label approval. 

Founded as the world’s first cultivated meat company in 2015, UPSIDE Foods (formerly Memphis Meats) has achieved numerous industry-defining milestones, including being the first company to produce multiple species of meat (beef, chicken, and duck). The company believes that people shouldn’t have to choose between the foods they love and a thriving planet, and is working to build a better food system with access to delicious, humane, and sustainable meat, poultry, and seafood. UPSIDE Foods has won various industry awards, including New York Times’ Good Tech Awards, FastCo’s Next Big Thing in Tech, and the Best and Brightest Companies to Work For in the Nation by the National Association for Business Resources. UPSIDE Foods has raised a total of $608 million, including from the Abu Dhabi Growth Fund (ADG), Baillie Gifford, Bill Gates, Cargill, John Doerr, John Mackey, Kimbal and Christiana Musk, Norwest, Richard Branson, Softbank, Temasek, Threshold, Tyson Foods, and others. 

About this internship

UPSIDE has grown fast over the last two years, and the momentum continues! We are seeking a Research Intern to add depth to our rapidly-expanding Discovery-Madison team and support projects focused on improving the sensory profiles of our cultivated meat products. This role will focus on understanding and identifying media components, and characterizing cell behavior in the cultivation of cell-based meat—specifically shellfish. You should be capable of building hypotheses and designing, troubleshooting, and executing experiments under supervision while employing critical thinking and organizational skills. This laboratory-based position requires isolating and culturing primary cells; performing wet-lab experiments followed by analysis and interpretation of the data; presentation of findings to the Cell Culture Media and Discovery Team and suggesting follow-up experiments. The ideal candidate would be someone creative, enthusiastic, and a fast learner with problem-solving skills who is motivated to change the future of food.

Responsibilities include

• Isolate and maintain primary cell cultures from animal sources
• Help projects focused on developing and optimizing novel marine media formulations
• Perform experiments to characterize marine cell lines and media
• Analyze and present data to the research team 
• Assist with development of Standard Operating Procedures
• Collaborate with a multidisciplinary team of scientists
• Maintain laboratory notebook with detailed experiments and results

About you

• Completing or recently-completed your Bachelor’s degree in cellular & molecular biology, marine biology, biochemistry, bioengineering or related field
• Understanding of aseptic cell culture techniques and media development
• Understanding of cell metabolism, signaling, and physiology
• Self-directed with a strong technical background and work ethic
• Flexibility and willingness to expand skill set and responsibilities
• Excellent verbal and written communication, organization, and time-management skills
• Comfortable working with live animals
• Prior experience with statistical analysis or OMICs preferred

Who you’ll work with

• This role will most frequently interact with our R&D Discovery team in Madison and California
• This role will collaborate with cross-functional R&D teams involved in various aspects of our cultivated meat platform including cell culture media, cell line and tissue development, and research support.
• This is a rare opportunity to learn about the many aspects of industry research in an emerging field!

Length of internship

• 10-12 weeks

UPSIDE Foods is an equal opportunity employer and we value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. Our company-wide mission is to create a product for everyone, so we are deeply committed to having teams and leaders that reflect this mission.